Aviva third in TD Waterhouse top ten trades tables

Angus Rigby, Chief Executive Officer, TD Waterhouse comments: "Our customers continued their buying spree this week, with buys outweighing sells by almost a third (31%). Among the most popular buys the insurance sector gained ground this week with the reappearance of Aviva and Legal & General, which together account for almost 1 in 5 (18%) of our customers' top ten trades.

"Aviva shot straight into third place boasting a buy to sell ratio of 3:1, after its share price tumbled last week. The UK's largest insurer, which had made a point of holding its dividend when it reported full year results in March, saw its shares tumble 17.5p to 313.5p last Wednesday on concerns that not cutting the payout could leave its capital position weakened. Its share price tumbled further on Monday, offering the savvy investor some interesting buying opportunities. However, the insurance giant recently sold its Australian business to National Australia Bank (NAB) in a £452m deal, which is expected to boost its capital surplus by £400m and leave shareholders around 16 times better off compared to net earnings in 2008. But the Australian Competition Commission is concerned the deal will trigger a trend for mass consolidations. It is yet to be seen how our customers react to its interim results announcement next month. Rival Legal & General also made a new entrance in our sells table after its shares fell is 3.3p lower at 51.2p last Wednesday.

"Banking giant Barclays also returned as the sixth most popular buy among TD Waterhouse customers after dropping off the table last week for the first time since the start of the year. However, the 70% state-owned bank retained its position as the top selling stock for the second consecutive week, with sells outweighing buys by just over 2:1. Barclays' shares received a boost on Monday as the bank confirmed its latest recruit - the former Citigroup M&A banker Mark Todd - to its string of new hires. Todd has been appointed Managing Director at BarCap, the investment banking arm of Barclays, as it embarks upon a mission to become a world leading full services investment bank with plans to hire a further 65 M&A bankers by the end of this year.

"Finally, our customers continued to call on Vodafone this week as buys in the telecoms giant rose 11% compared to last week's figure, pushing it into fourth place of the top ten buys. Bargain-hungry customers may have been thinking ahead in the hope of making future profits as they snapped up falling shares in the firm. Earlier in the week, Vodafone's share price fell sharply on the back of news that it is losing market share in three of its four main European markets. Meanwhile, rumours persist that Vodafone is considering a takeover bid for T-Mobile, which if successful would make it the number one mobile network operator in the UK market."